TEN men are facing jail for turning a gypsy travellers' camp built using £3million of taxpayers' cash into a giant hidden cannabis factory.

The gypsy community were handed the public money to improve their caravan site - but instead swindled the cash on turning 24 caravans into a sophisticated drugs-growing operation worth up to £340,000 a year.

The Glynmill Gypsy and Traveller Site was handed the grant to refurbish the site and build a community hall for its 120 residents.

But officials were tipped off after caravan dwellers were seen buying large amounts of compost and gardening equipment from a local garden centre.

And when more than 100 officers swooped on the camp they found it was home to a "highly lucrative" cannabis farm.

The community centre which was paid for by the £3m taxypayers cash Defendants Edward Probert, 27, of Pontypool, Gwent, and William Henry Williams, 20, of Merthyr Tydfil, also pleaded guilty to the same charges.

But another four living at the site were cleared when their trial collapsed because the businessman who owns the camp refused to give evidence in court.

Owner Craig William Bennett was awarded the £3m from the Welsh Government in three grants between 2011 and 2014 to improve the camp with three toilets blocks, community hall and own school at the site.

The court heard Bennett then rented the site back to the local council who provided the camp for the travellers.

Bennett was due to be a key witness in the trail but failed to appear at court.

He was prosecuted for contempt of court after the trial collapsed.

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The "highly lucrative" cannabis farm

The father-of-four said: "I had no idea what was going on. I had never smelled cannabis. I had an accident seven years ago and can't smell anything. I would not know what it smelled like anyway."

Bennett confirmed he was given a £3m grant from the Welsh Government to renovate the site but claimed he also contributed £200,000 of his own money.

He was fined £500 for contempt of court by the judge and warned he will be jailed for 14 days if he refuses to pay up.

Judge Richard Twomlow said: "You deliberately failed to attend a trial involving a lot of people. That trial could not go ahead because of that failure.

"You admitted being in contempt. You have expressed genuine concern and remorse about the position you had out yourself in."

Among the four cleared was £450-a-week site manager William Gilheaney, 51, who claimed he had no idea of the large scale cannabis operation surrounding him.

The court heard cannabis was being grown either side of his rent-free caravan - with one of them housing the "mother plant" from which all other cannabis plants were grown.

The ten men who pleaded guilty will be sentenced later for their roles in the secret cannabis site.

After the raid, Chief Inspector Phillip Ashby, of South Wales Police, said: "We were able to act on some good intelligence and put a large and complex operation together.

"A small minority of individuals linked to the site had done their best to prevent outside engagement with the site, and it is now clear why.

"Those arrested today can expect to be dealt with robustly - we have specially trained officers who will utilise the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure any assets suspected to be gained through criminality are seized.

"My message to anyone growing cannabis is that it's only a matter of time before we find you, no matter where you are."